What Does “Medium Work” Really Mean?  Why Losing the Ability to Perform Medium Work Can End a Career

What Does “Medium Work” Really Mean?  Why Losing the Ability to Perform Medium Work Can End a Career

Most injured workers have never heard the phrase “medium work” until they become involved in a workers’ compensation or Social Security Disability case; then suddenly everyone seems to be talking about it.

The doctor.

The Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE).

The vocational expert.

The Administrative Law Judge.

The workers’ compensation lawyer.

The Social Security Administration.

The reason is simple.

For thousands of Alabama workers, medium work represents the dividing line between continuing a career and being unable to return to the type of work they have performed their entire adult lives.

Understanding what medium work actually requires can make it much easier to understand why a seemingly modest permanent restriction may dramatically affect both an Alabama Workers’ Compensation claim and a Social Security Disability case.

Recommended Reading: What Do Sedentary, Light, Medium, Heavy, and Very Heavy Work Really Mean?

How Does Social Security Define Medium Work?

Social Security defines medium work through:

• SSR 83-10
• SSR 83-12
• POMS DI 25001.001

Medium work generally requires:

• lifting up to 50 pounds occasionally
• lifting or carrying up to 25 pounds frequently
• standing or walking approximately 6 hours during an 8-hour workday
• frequent stooping
• frequent crouching
• frequent grasping, holding, and turning objects

Just as importantly: If a person can perform medium work, Social Security assumes they can also perform light and sedentary work.

The Twenty-Five Pound Rule Is Often the Real Problem

Many people focus on the ability to lift fifty pounds, when in reality, vocational experts often focus more on the frequent lifting requirement.

Medium work assumes a worker can repeatedly lift or carry objects weighing up to 25 pounds throughout the workday.

That is far more demanding than occasionally picking up something heavy.

Consider:

• repeatedly carrying toolboxes;
• lifting patients;
• moving boxes in a warehouse;
• handling auto parts;
• unloading freight;
• stocking merchandise.

Those activities occur over and over throughout an eight-hour shift.

A worker may physically lift fifty pounds once, but doing twenty-five pounds repeatedly is an entirely different matter.

Medium Work Requires Constant Movement

Most medium occupations also require workers to:

• remain on their feet most of the day;
• bend repeatedly;
• squat;
• stoop;
• climb;
• carry objects;
• push and pull equipment.

For many injured workers, the issue is not strength-it is endurance.

Chronic pain, arthritis, spinal injuries, knee injuries, hip injuries, foot injuries, or severe fatigue may prevent someone from performing these activities hour after hour.

Recommended Reading: Can Pain Alone Keep Me from Working? Understanding Pain in Alabama Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability Claims

Small Restrictions Can Eliminate Medium Work Entirely

One of the biggest misconceptions we see is this: “I can still lift twenty-five pounds, so I must still be capable of medium work.”

Not necessarily.

Medium work requires the full range of medium-work activities.  Consider a worker who has permanent restrictions of:

• no repetitive bending;
• occasional stooping only;
• no climbing ladders;
• no squatting;
• alternate sitting and standing;
• no kneeling.

Each restriction may appear relatively minor; combined, they may eliminate virtually every medium occupation.

Social Security does not evaluate lifting in isolation.  They evaluate whether a person can sustain all of the physical requirements of medium work on a regular and continuing basis.

Recommended Reading: How Postural Restrictions Affect Alabama Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability Claims

Why This Matters in Alabama Workers’ Compensation Cases

Many Alabama workers spent decades performing medium work.  Examples include:

• truck drivers;
• certified nursing assistants;
• correctional officers;
• mechanics;
• machine operators;
• warehouse employees;
• delivery drivers;
• maintenance workers;
• manufacturing employees.

If permanent restrictions reduce those workers to light-duty work, they often cannot return to the occupation they have performed for years.

That vocational loss becomes extremely important in many non-scheduled injury cases—and in scheduled injury cases that can properly be taken outside the schedule.

The court may consider:

• permanent restrictions;
• age;
• education;
• transferable job skills;
• loss of earning capacity;
• ability to obtain reasonably suitable employment.

Recommended Reading: What Happens If I Can’t Return to My Job After a Work Injury? Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability Explained

Recommended Reading: Scheduled vs. Non-Scheduled Injuries

Medium Work and Social Security Disability

Social Security uses a different analysis.  The question is not whether you can return to your old job; instead, Social Security asks:

Can you perform any other jobs existing in significant numbers in the national economy?

Suppose a fifty-eight-year-old warehouse employee is permanently limited to light work after suffering a serious back injury.  That worker may be unable to return to medium work.

Then Social Security considers:

• age;
• education;
• transferable skills;
• residual functional capacity;
• the Medical-Vocational Guidelines (Grid Rules).

Sometimes that limitation results in disability-sometimes it does not.  Everything depends upon the claimant’s overall vocational profile.

Recommended Reading: Understanding the Medical-Vocational Grid Rules

Recommended Reading: What Does “Jobs Existing in Significant Numbers” Really Mean in a Social Security Disability Case?

Functional Capacity Evaluations Often Decide the Issue

Many physicians rely upon Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCEs) when assigning permanent work restrictions.  The evaluator may conclude the worker is capable of:

• Heavy work;
• Medium work;
• Light work; or
• Sedentary work.

That single conclusion frequently affects:

• workers’ compensation settlements;
• vocational opinions;
• return-to-work decisions;
• later Social Security Disability claims.

Because so much depends upon these evaluations, they should never be viewed in isolation from:

• MRI findings;
• treating physician opinions;
• objective medical evidence;
• chronic pain;
• medication side effects;
• day-to-day functioning.

Recommended Reading: What Is a Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), and How Does It Affect My Workers’ Compensation Case?

Medium Work Often Ends Because of Pain—Not Weakness

Many injured workers are physically stronger than their medical records suggest.  Their problem is not muscle strength though, their problem is that:

• pain increases throughout the day;
• repeated lifting aggravates symptoms;
• standing becomes intolerable;
• bending triggers muscle spasms;
• medication causes drowsiness;
• fatigue becomes overwhelming.

These limitations rarely appear on a simple strength test.

Yet they often determine whether a person can continue performing medium work.

Recommended Reading: Can the Side Effects of My Prescribed Medication Affect My Alabama Workers’ Compensation Claim?

Recommended Reading: Can the Side Effects of My Prescribed Medication Affect My Social Security Disability Claim?

Losing Medium Work Often Means Losing a Career

Perhaps the most important point is this: Many occupations require workers to perform the full range of medium work.

If permanent restrictions reduce a worker from medium to light work, they may never again be able to perform the job they have spent twenty or thirty years learning.  That reality often becomes the foundation for both:

• vocational disability in Alabama workers’ compensation cases; and
• disability determinations under Social Security’s vocational rules.

The Bottom Line

Medium work involves far more than lifting fifty pounds.  It generally requires standing or walking most of the workday, frequent lifting of up to twenty-five pounds, repeated bending and stooping, and the ability to sustain those activities on a full-time basis.

Even relatively modest permanent restrictions can eliminate the full range of medium work, preventing an injured worker from returning to the occupation they have performed for years.

In Alabama workers’ compensation claims, that loss may become important evidence of vocational disability and reduced earning capacity. In Social Security Disability cases, it may shift the analysis to whether the claimant can perform lighter work, whether transferable skills exist, and whether the Medical-Vocational Guidelines support a finding of disability.

Understanding what “medium work” truly requires is one of the keys to understanding why some work injuries permanently change not only a person’s health—but also their ability to earn a living.

At Powell & Denny, we have represented injured and disabled workers throughout Alabama for more than 30 years. We understand that serious claims are rarely decided by lifting restrictions alone.  They are decided by how the injury affects the person’s ability to function, work, and earn a living.

If you have questions about an Alabama Workers’ Compensation claim, or a claim for Social Security Disability benefits, don’t hesitate to contact the experienced attorneys at Powell and Denny today a free consultation; remember. Virtual appointments are available through Zoom so you can meet with one of the attorneys of Powell and Denny from wherever you live, and remember-there is no fee unless you win.

Powell & Denny: We Work When You Can’t.

Offices in Birmingham, Alabama and Huntsville, AL

 

Next in this Series: What Does “Heavy Work” Really Mean? Why So Many Alabama Workers Can Never Return to Their Jobs After a Serious Injury